About Bob Bob serves as President and CEO of GuideStar and serves on the boards of Vision TV, Grameen Foundation USA, and the AAFRC Trust for Philanthropy. More...
About GuideStar GuideStar gathers and publicizes information about nonprofits. We advocate that nonprofits share information openly and completely. Any nonprofit we track can update its report for free. More...
|
Posted By Bob Ottenhoff on September 9th, 2011, in these categories: Disaster Relief | GuideStar | Nonprofit Practice I’ve had some interesting reactions to my blog on the need for high-performing nonprofits to be capable of “adapting” and about our Agile approach to software development, where we learned to plan/adapt/plan/adapt rather than just focusing on making plans. (A special word of thanks to Lyssa Adkins, our Agile training coach; she has a great website: http://www.coachingagileteams.com/)
I found out that the word adapt makes some people uncomfortable because it sounds so ad hoc. It suggests blowing in the wind, and reacting to every tug and pull without having a solid sense of direction. It reminds readers of the familiar phrase: “If you don’t know where you’re going, any direction will work.”
In this blog and another to follow in a few days, I’m sharing some thoughts that helped me work through this tension.
The first insight came from an amazing documentary my wife and I were given the chance to view last week about an event that happened on 9/11. After the World Trade Towers fell, the Coast Guard put out an alert to all boaters to help rescue survivors. In the course of the next nine hours, nearly 500,000 people were evacuated from Manhattan by an armada of over 150 vessels, of all shapes and sizes. This was more people than were evacuated from Dunkirk in World War II in nine days. There are nice summaries of the documentary here and here.
The documentary was shown at a day-long film festival organized by the Center for National Policy, the Rockefeller Foundation and others here in Washington on September 7. In his introductory remarks the other night, the Center’s president, Dr. Stephen Flynn, said the retrospective will not only honor those that died, and the heroic work of those that responded, but the resilience of the survivors.
Flynn said the focus of the 9/11 retrospective will be to “strengthen national resilience by inspiring and guiding Americans to better withstand, recover from, and adapt to chronic risks and periodic catastrophes.” He pointed out that since 9/11, our nation has experienced Katrina, other destructive hurricanes, earthquakes and a financial meltdown, to name only a few challenges. It’s impossible, he said, to prevent occurrences like these from happening or even fully protecting ourselves from their consequences.
Resilience is an intriguing word to be used in the concept of 9/11. The dictionary defines resilience as “the power or ability to return to the original form after being bent or stretched.” It doesn’t mean simply enduring or succumbing – but taking determined steps to return to normal.
It’s an important concept for all of us aspiring to run high-performing organizations. Adapting suggests we need to constantly respond to the world around us and not get so fixed on a certain course of action. The word “resilience” reminds us that despite our best efforts, bad things will happen to us and our organizations, but it is within our power to respond affirmatively.
A quote from the Center for National Policy’s website prompted me to think about my ability to respond to adversity and feeling optimistic about our nation’s big challenges:
Americans have always bounced back better and stronger in the face of adversity. Our history – as a nation, a culture, a people – is filled with examples of our resilience. As such, we are the heirs to a powerful legacy of confidence and optimism about our ability to shape the future for the better. But, lately a torrent of new economic and security challenges appears to be sapping our “can-do” spirit. We must once again draw upon the democratic principles of open dialogue and collaboration, civic engagement and volunteerism, and a shared commitment to bond together in common cause to overcome adversity.
Posted By Bob Ottenhoff on March 17th, 2011, in these categories: Disaster Relief It is heart-wrenching to watch the scenes of utter disaster on television. It is a personal crisis on an epic scale and clearly there is a need for housing, food and clothing assistance. And many of us want to do something, but what? Most reports I’ve read say the Japanese government nor Japanese NGOs are asking for help. And Japan is probably one of the best organized and well prepared countries in the world – in fact they have always been very generous in supplying assistance to other natural disasters in other countries.
I received a lot of feedback on my blog yesterday, as well as to an article in the New York Times that I was quoted in. People have strong feelings about donating, and even without a clear understanding of where that help will ultimately go, in our hearts and our actions, we want to reach out to people in times of crisis. Please do not interpret my blog yesterday as saying you shouldn’t act if you want to, or that you’re doing something wrong if you do indeed give. Before you give, however, I would suggest you think of two things:
- In this time of crisis, be careful where you give. There’s no need to respond to every email, every phone call or letter you receive. With this much uncertainty, your donation is probably best going to a well-vetted, well-known organization that has proven experience in responding to natural disasters. GuideStar and our partners are trying to give you some help in picking the right ones. http://www2.guidestar.org/rxg/update-nonprofit-report/nonprofit-resource-center-automatic-revocation-of-tax-exempt-status.aspx.
- Since we’re not sure about Japan’s abilities to handle the short-term needs of this crisis, you might want to consider holding off on your contribution and giving to some of the efforts to re-build these devastated communities. With tens of thousands of people without homes and jobs, they are going to need our help for a long time to come.
This is one of the moments where giving with your heart –as well as your head – seems to be more applicable than ever.
Posted By Bob Ottenhoff on March 14th, 2011, in these categories: Disaster Relief | GuideStarWe are on a regular basis updating information on our web site about giving to the Japanese earthquake relief effort . Thousands have died, thousands more are missing, and the death toll continues to rise. The race to find survivors is accompanied by the urgent need to prevent meltdown at nuclear power plants damaged by the natural disasters.
The nonprofits listed here have offered their assistance to those affected by this disaster. http://www2.guidestar.org/rxg/give-to-charity/nonprofits-working-in-the-pacific.aspx . To make an online donation to one of them, click on the organization’s name, then click on the Donate Now button in its GuideStar report. If you are a GuideStar Premium subscriber, you will need to log out to see the Donate Now button.
As in previous disasters, we recommend you take the following steps when considering making a donation:
1. Be pro-active, not re-active. It’s not necessary or wise to respond to every call or request. There is a disturbing increase in the number of fake websites and phony activities. The best way you can protect yourself as a donor is to make sure you are donating to a legitimate charity that has the capabilities to provide assistance services.
2. Determine what kind of programs you want to support. What are your values and priorities? What matters to you? “Disaster relief and recovery” has many faces—emergency housing, provision of potable water, medical assistance, feeding the hungry, sending in search and rescue teams, long-term rebuilding, and more. Decide which one(s) you want to give to.
3. Do a little research. Use GuideStar to identify charities doing the work you want to support. Be careful if you haven’t been to the site of a charity before or don’t know the organization well. Con artists often post bogus Web sites and run scam donation campaigns immediately after a disaster. If you aren’t already familiar with a relief organization’s site, protect yourself by linking to it from a trusted site such as GuideStar.
4. Look at GuideStar’s content partners for additional information.
- Our partner Give Well, gives information on the international aid charities they recommend – and – recommends holding off on making any contributions until the true need is better understood. Unlike Haiti, Japan is a wealthy and well organized country; their aid needs could be completely different.
- Our other partners often provide information on disaster relief:
5. Ask questions. Does the charity have experience working in disaster relief and in particular in the nation where the disaster has occurred? Time is of the essence—lives are at risk, so you want to give to organizations that can get relief where it needs to go quickly and efficiently. How does the charity describe its mission and programs? Its accomplishments? Do the programs support the mission? Does the charity use concrete measurements to evaluate its accomplishments? How do people who have firsthand experience with the charity evaluate its services?
6. Consider making another gift in a few weeks or months, or giving an unrestricted gift to an experienced organization’s general disaster-relief fund.“Disaster relief” is a long-term process, as we’ve seen in the aftermath of the December 26, 2004, tsunamis, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Donating in a few months or even a year can make a difference in many lives. Regarding unrestricted gifts, remember that relief organizations can’t wait until donations start coming in to respond to a disaster—they have to get to the scene as quickly as possible. By giving to a general relief fund, you give the organization the ability to use your donation where and when it is most needed. Perhaps that will be in Japan today. Perhaps it will be at someplace else in the future. But your gift to a nonprofit’s general relief fund will make a difference.
Posted By Bob Ottenhoff on January 18th, 2011, in these categories: Disaster Relief | GuideStarThere have been lots of interesting reports on Haiti these past few days as we mark the one year anniversary of the devastating earthquake that killed over 200,000 people and left over a million people homeless.
 Source: Global Development Blog-Views from the Center Pledges and contributions from the public have so far totaled about $1.5 billion and government agencies have pledged close to $3 billion. That seems like a lot, but other disasters have generated even larger contributions. Whatever the amount, there’s a lot of frustration today about the pace of progress. Is it justified? I offer four points to think about:
1. There is a difference between crisis relief and rebuilding. When a disaster occurs, there is an immediate problem: rushing medical attention, food, water, and shelter to the victims. Donors respond unusually well to vivid television reports of these emergencies and donations tend to spike. But once the crisis has been addressed, the tedious cleaning up and rebuilding begins. It is a hard slog and it is not televised. Complaints that donations are not being spent fast enough are mixing expectations about the emergency relief versus the complicated rebuilding efforts. It’s hard for donors to distinguish between the two activities because nonprofits raise money based on the emergency at hand.
2. Donors do not always think in the longer term. The Disaster Emergency Committee reports that before the earthquake hit:
- More than 70% of people in Haiti were living on less than $US2 per day
- 86% of people in Port au Prince were living in slum conditions – mostly tightly-packed, poorly-built, concrete buildings.
- 80% of education in Haiti was provided in often poor-quality private schools, the state system generally provided better education but provided far too few places.
- Half of people in Port-au-Prince had no access to latrines and only one-third has access to tap water.
In other words, the crisis in Haiti began long before the earthquake. But this wasn’t televised either and it’s hard to raise money for long-term efforts.
3. Capabilities matter. Increasingly donors are demanding more than just good intentions. They want results. Disaster aid organizations are going to need to prove that they know what they are doing and have the organization, logistical capabilities, and personnel to get things done, done well, and done quickly. By the way, for you believers in judging nonprofits by overhead ratios: these might be considered the elements of overhead, but it is often the difference between mere aspiration and actual accomplishment.
4. International aid organizations need to work together better. According to the Disaster Accountability Project, 196 organizations solicited donations for work in Haiti. Sometimes they seem to be tripping over one another. The multiplicity of organizations is made more difficult because of the weak and disorganized Haitian government. Here are a few organizations to keep an eye on:
Posted By Bob Ottenhoff on December 15th, 2010, in these categories: Disaster Relief | Donors | Fundraising | GuideStar Have you been paying attention to the recent brouhaha over Apple’s long-time decision to ban donations on the iPhone via nonprofit apps? The New York Times recently weighed in and quoted Jake Shapiro, executive director of Public Radio Exchange, an online nonprofit marketplace for licensing and distributing public radio programming, as saying, “One of Apple’s major objections has been that if donations were to go through its payment mechanism, it would have to be in the business of managing and distributing funds and verifying charities as well.”
We think Apple is right to be concerned about the importance of vetting nonprofits. Individual donors as well as professional grantmakers are very concerned that their contributions go to legitimate, legal nonprofit organizations and not bogus or non-deductable charities we often read about.
There’s no doubt that Apple’s ban has upset nonprofits and donors alike. Care2, a huge online community of people passionate about making a difference, has started a petition urging Apple to reconsider, and nonprofit social media guru Beth Kanter has pledged to switch her business from Apple’s iPhone to Google’s Android.
But that doesn’t mean nothing can be done about it. GuideStar has a long history of providing trustworthy, vetted data to a variety of institutions: Facebook Causes, giving portals, corporate programs, large private foundations, financial institutions, donor advised funds, United Way chapters, you name it – if you want to verify a nonprofit, we can do it.
Can Apple afford not to work with the philanthropic sector? When asked for comment, Apple spokeswoman Trudy Miller told us what she told The New York Times, “We are proud to have many applications on our App Store which accept charitable donations via their Web sites.” But how much philanthropic giving are they not supporting when donors are unable to give via their iPhone apps?
Giving USA Foundation and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University estimate total charitable contributions from American individuals, corporations, and foundations at $303.75 billion in 2009, even despite a record-setting economic recession. And no longer are we seeing giving coming only from older and wealthier donors. Fundraising Success Magazine notes, “Historic philanthropy patterns of America’s affluent donors are giving way to a more complex and disparate population that represents our country’s patchwork communities. The systematic and predictable giving methods by the rich no longer dominate our donor bases. Diverse communities are emerging with new giving patterns and objectives.” iPhone apps are poised to tap into new donor bases if given that opportunity, particularly among the younger and minority demographics.
We’ve already seen this younger donor base in action: Network for Good’s new study points out that after the Haiti disaster, most giving was online and on mobile. A study conducted by Convio, Edge Research, and Sea Change Strategies, and published in March 2010 found that—a little more than a week to two weeks after Haiti’s deadly January earthquake—17 percent of donors who were ages 19 to 29 reported that they had sent a text message to make a gift and another 37 percent said they thought about making a text-message contribution. Among donors ages 30 to 45, 14 percent said they gave by text message and an additional 27 percent considered it. By contrast, only 3 percent of people ages 46 to 64 and 3 percent of people who are 65 or older reported sending a text contribution to relief efforts. And the results were astounding: just using text messaging capabilities, Americans donated the 30 million dollars in 10 days for Haitian relief efforts.
People want a way to help the causes they care about, and they want to be able to do it easily via their mobile devices. Apple is a leading platform of mobile apps. GuideStar is the premier source of vetting nonprofit information. I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
 Trombone Shorty I’ve come to expect that I will learn something new every time I meet with folks from GuideStar’s DonorEdge Community Foundations.
After all, that’s what a learning community is all about.
From many of the group’s presidents, I’ve learned about how community foundations are re-inventing their business models, focusing less on transactional donations and more on “intentional” giving. From other community foundation presidents I’ve learned about the importance of becoming a “knowledge center,” a reservoir of information about nonprofit organizations and their programs and metrics.
From my friend Roxie Jerde, senior vice president of the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation, and her husband Mike, I learned how to gather the courage and determination to ride my bike 100 miles in one hot and windy day at Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) in central Iowa.
From our friends at the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee I have learned about how an organization can become a vital knowledge and a financial resource center in times of terrible floods and community hurt. As our partner KIMBIA puts it in their case statement: “In the first week of May 2010, heavy rains fell on the Middle Tennessee region, flooding much of the metro Nashville area. Powered by the combined efforts of KIMBIA and GuideStar’s DonorEdge platform, the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee responded immediately with a custom online fundraising campaign. In all, the DonorEdge widgets have raised well over a million dollars in relief funds.”
And as a side benefit from my last trip to Nashville, I learned about all the fabulous music that Nashville has to offer.
And while I’m on the topic of music, at the suggestion of Doug Kridler, president and CEO of the Columbus Foundation, a man who has also had a successful career finding successful musical acts, I dragged along my trusting but unsuspecting wife and two friends to see Trombone Shorty at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC, not long ago. It was a high energy night with a capital E! Trombone Shorty─his real name is Troy Andrews─is a part of the musical Andrews family and grew up in New Orleans’ Treme neighborhood. He has appeared in four episodes of the 2010 HBO series Treme. His current group is called Orleans Avenue and they play a mix of funk/hip-hop/jazz and blues. I would call his music amazing and lots of fun.
So thanks, Doug, for the tip about the great music. I never would have gone if it hadn’t been for you. And thanks DonorEdge for being such a great learning community that is always teaching me something new.
Posted By Bob Ottenhoff on August 27th, 2010, in these categories: Disaster Relief | DonorsAs CNN and other news outlets are reporting, monsoon rains have flooded large areas of Pakistan, forcing millions to flee their homes and seek humanitarian aid for such basic necessities as shelter, food, potable water, and medical care. And, as BusinessWeek pointed out, Americans are joining in force to provide assistance to the victims of this cruel tragedy.
 Pakistan Flood Survivors I’m always so proud when Americans come together in the face of tragedy. All across the nation, communities are asking themselves how they can help, individuals are digging into their pockets to find something extra, and hundreds of nonprofits are getting calls from people wanting to know how they can help. And, luckily for those who need the help so desperately, people are acting quickly.
But, as you’ve heard me say it before (it bears repeating): Do a little research before you donate. Be sure that your money is being put to the best use possible. Click here for some quick and easy tips for doing your due diligence.
As I’ve also said before, unrestricted contributions are really the most effective gifts you can give to nonprofits that provide emergency assistance. There are already many organizations in Pakistan working diligently to help, and they’ve had to reach into their operating budgets or disaster-relief funds to provide this aid. They didn’t anticipate the flooding, and they probably didn’t have a fund already earmarked for Pakistan. And once their work in Pakistan is over, they’ll need resources to respond to the next unanticipated emergencies, particularly in the early hours, when quick action can literally mean the difference between life and death.
Over and over in the past we’ve seen disaster-relief organizations hampered because gifts have been restricted to a specific disaster or location. Although we encourage unrestricted giving to all charities, emergency-relief organizations particularly need donations that come without limitations for spending them, or that are made to the organizations’ general disaster-relief funds.
If it’s important to you that your gift be used in Pakistan, consider giving to nonprofits that have long-range programs there. Disaster recovery is a long-term process that has many facets. Your donation to an organization that will provide assistance after the flood waters have receded will have an impact.
Click here for list of nonprofits working in Pakistan. Other nonprofits assisting relief efforts in Pakistan can contact GuideStar to be added to the list. You can also find lists of nonprofits working in Haiti and Chile.
Posted By Bob Ottenhoff on June 14th, 2010, in these categories: Disaster ReliefAs I’ve written before, movies are a powerful way to tell a nonprofit’s story. Some motivate you to take action. Others leave you feeling inspired as hope overcomes adversity. I’m still trying to sort out how I feel about Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders, Mark Hopkins’s new documentary about the Paris-based humanitarian group, Doctors without Borders.
On the one hand the documentary presents us with the well-known inspirational story that the New York Times summed up as "physicians meet the consequences of war, epidemic and natural disaster one patient at a time." This is the story we’ve come to know over the years: doctors overcoming extreme adversity to be among the first on the scene to administer medical coverage in times of war or natural disaster.
But this movie also tells a story all too common to many nonprofit organizations—demand for services far exceeding available resources—and, in this case, human limitations. We follow the challenges of four young doctors, primarily in Liberia, a country just recovering from a brutal civil war, and the Congo, where strife is still ongoing, as they confront not only disaster relief but two countries essentially bereft of any basic health infrastructure. This is not just a temporary emergency but a systematic breakdown. Despite the heartbreaking scenes of people desperate for basic health service, we see the group ultimately pull out of these two assignments in a realization that they are beyond their resources and capabilities.
Short-term medical attention versus long term health care. What a terrible choice to have to make.
Posted By Bob Ottenhoff on February 22nd, 2010, in these categories: Disaster ReliefIt has been over a month since the earthquake in Haiti. Now that the story is pretty much off the TV screens, most Americans are paying less attention to this crisis, and contributions have declined dramatically. I spoke to many reporters in the first weeks after the disaster and tried to get them—with only limited success—to include in their reports the fact that Haiti was in crisis before the earthquake and will need our help and contributions for many years to come. I hope you and your friends will be thinking about that as you plan your own individual giving.
In my personal life, one of my volunteer activities is serving on the board of the Grameen Foundation USA. One of the organizations we support is Fonkoze, the Haitian branch of the Grameen Bank. There were many acts of personal heroism and extraordinary effort after the earthquake. Here is an excerpt from an amazing story reported by Peggy Simpson that tells one of them, this one involving Fonkoze. Read the full blog here >
At a time when Haitian commercial banks remain closed, Fonkoze, the Haitian branch of the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, mobilized over the weekend to get funds to its members in rural towns as well as Port-au-Prince.
Between 2 a.m. and 2 p.m. last Saturday [January 23, 2010], Fonkoze brought in $2 million in cash from their U.S. bank and distributed it by helicopters to regional offices in the most remote parts of the country. That got money flowing again. The cash came from Haitians working abroad who had sent funds—remittances—to their relatives.
Also known as Haiti’s Alternative Bank for the Organized Poor, Fonkoze found a way to get money to its members through the 34 of its 41 branch offices still open after the earthquake. It had a lot of help in high places: the U.S. secretary of state, top Treasury and Defense Department officials, the Federal Reserve, the Agency for International Development, the United Nations, the Inter-American Development Bank and more.
The actual operation read like a cloak-and-dagger saga.
Anne Hastings, the CEO of Fonkoze Financial Services, was point person on shaping the unorthodox solution. It involved many conference calls to Washington, New York and Miami, as well as intricate strategies with managers on the ground in Haiti who would get the money to the women.
By last Friday, the plan was ready. Remittances from U.S.-based Haitians deposited in Fonkoze’s accounts at City National Bank of New Jersey were sent to JP Morgan Chase in Miami, converted into cash—and packed in office supply boxes. An armored vehicle transferred the boxes to Homestead Air Force Base.
A C-17 plane, diverted from Langley Air Force Base, landed at Homestead at 3 a.m. Saturday, took on the camouflaged cargo of cash, and flew to Haiti, where the major airport at Port-au-Prince has been under U.S. military control since the earthquake.
There, Hastings and two other Fonkoze executives inspected the cash cargo—and called the Pentagon to say so far, so good. Under a military escort, the Fonkoze vehicle loaded with the boxes of cash awaited the two helicopters that could fly the money to 10 designated drop-off locations.
Fonkoze’s Jean-Guy Noel rode with the helicopters as they began deliveries before dawn. Seven hours later, all the cash had been delivered and the helicopters were back in Port-au-Prince. By early afternoon, the cash had been distributed to the 34 Fonkoze branches. Almost immediately, the Fonkoze managers began giving Fonkoze members cash from their relatives, a financial lifeline at a time when the formal banking system is in shambles and remittances sent through it from overseas Haitians remain locked up.
… In 2007, 79 percent of Haitians lived on less than $2 a day and 55 percent lived on half that.
Fonkoze’s micro-lending program has four different levels. The first step is for the poorest of the poor and may involve home repairs and health care, as well as building the confidence of the women as they plan to start a micro-enterprise. Next the women may qualify for small loans—perhaps only $25—with a short repayment period, while they enroll in literacy classes. In Haiti, more than 50 percent of people are illiterate.
The third level is the core: a "solidarity" group in which friends take out loans together, then morph into credit centers of 30 to 40 women. These women can start out borrowing $75 but if they prosper, they can borrow up to $1,300 for six months.
The fourth level focuses on business development. Some women in this group borrow up to $25,000 and are being nurtured to become part of the formal economy, creating jobs in rural areas where there are few employment opportunities.
Posted By Bob Ottenhoff on January 26th, 2010, in these categories: Disaster Relief | Donors | Giving WiselyLast Friday’s New York Times included an excellent article by Ariel Kaminer on giving to Haitian recovery. It includes two questions that my colleagues and I have been answering since the crisis began:
-
"What about in-kind donations?"
The article tells of a store in New York City where generous patrons donated food, clothing, and water for Haiti. "By early last week, the donations had been stacked into huge piles, and a plan had come into view: the store would lead a delegation of 25 people to Haiti, to rescue the children stranded at the Life for the World orphanage in the town of Source Matelas. Doctors, nurses and anyone else who wanted to come would each carry two large suitcases stuffed with food and medical supplies." Logistics, however, were a problem. Toting pounds of donations in suitcases was problematic, and "no one was sure if they would even be allowed to enter Haiti."
At GuideStar, we advise people that monetary gifts are more effective in the early days after a disaster. Even if your in-kind gifts do get to the scene, they may not be what’s need most right there, right then. If you feel compelled to give things rather than money, be sure to give them to an organization that can get them where they are needed most.
-
"The best charities are the ones where most of the donations go to the cause, not administration, right?"
If you have been reading this blog for a while or are familiar with GuideStar’s stand on financial ratios, you already know our answer to this question. Katherina Rosqueta, executive director of the Center for High Impact Philanthropy, expressed our point of view perfectly in the NYT article: "What really matters in this situation is not their ratio of overhead to other expenses. … It’s their experience and record of having impact in Haiti."
The tragedy in Haiti has inspired outstanding dialogues on giving wisely and measuring impact. I hope that these lessons stay with us long after Haiti and its citizens are on the road to recovery.
|
I’ve had some interesting reactions to my blog on the need for high-performing nonprofits to be capable of “adapting” and about our Agile approach to software development, where we learned to plan/adapt/plan/adapt rather than just focusing on making plans. (A special word of thanks to Lyssa Adkins, our Agile training coach; she has a great website: http://www.coachingagileteams.com/)
